Elizabeth Ingalls Dog Behavior and Training

06/13/2026

For the folks who have dogs on meds- who might not be getting the relief they need- here’s some info from a study you can read and discuss with your vet 💊

Hot off the research press - presented by at the 2026 Veterinary Behavior Symposium in Seattle this week!

CONCLUSIONS:
Preliminary results of our study indicate that Reconcile - the FDA reviewed veterinary formulation of fluoxetine may have advantages in treating behavior problems in dogs without food allergies over generic fluoxetine, particularly among dogs that have not demonstrated improvement on fluoxetine.

Ask your veterinarian about switching to Reconcile.

06/09/2026

Creating patterns and a strong reinforcement history is so important for real life. All of my dogs have been heavily reinforced for pausing at the gate (and a couple other places). They can sit, stand, whatever they choose but our focus was always on stopping at certain places. This has paid off in dividends more times than I can count. My husband didn’t close the gate and I didn’t realize Phoenix was outside. So you can see how pleased I was when I saw him standing there. We got there not from endless formal training sessions but through real life repetition and reinforcing in was that my dog enjoys. Sometimes the reward is going to hop in the car, sometimes it’s food, and others times it’s some petting in a way he specifically enjoys, other times it’s grabbing a leash and then going on a walk.

Learning doesn’t always have to be in a formal setting and reinforcement should be varied and meaningful to your dog. Give them choice when and where ever you can. (what does it matter to me if he sits in this case?) Spend your time working on behaviors that are specifically meaningful for your living scenario.

06/04/2026

Relationships take time to grow!

Adopting a dog is exciting. We humans can’t wait to share our hearts and homes. But with that, we need to remember that the resident dog isn’t the one making the choice, and we need to give them some time to get comfortable with their new companion.

Opal and Freedom’s relationship was a slow burn vs love at first sight. Their humans reached out to me to help both dogs learn to live together happily. And part of that was management of the environment with gates, expens and crates (see the background of the pic). This way, the dogs were able to get used to seeing eachother and the new space without the chance of conflict. We were slow and methodical about when the dogs were together, initially it was on walks and outside on leash, and then dragging leashes. This process took several weeks but the results were beautiful.

Wishing Opal and Freedom a happy life together and shout out to their humans for taking the time to let their relationship grow. Both dogs were adopted from

04/22/2026

I love this approach as an alternative to the 3-3-3 rule. Many people gauge their dog's success when measured in these terms - and the truth is there is no rule for how long a dog might take to adjust. Let's allow our dogs to settle in the timeframe that feels best for them

My problem with the 3×3×3 rule

Not because it’s bad advice.
It’s memorable.
It helps people understand that adjustment takes time.

But those timelines are often taken far too literally.

Three days.
Three weeks.
Three months.

Dogs don’t follow a schedule like that.

Some adjust quickly.
Some take a very long time and some will circle back and go through all those stages more than once. All of this is normal.

What really matters is understanding that behaviour often shifts when a dog begins to feel safer.

Safety doesn’t have a timeline

That’s the key message here.